New York Times: This Week in Small Business: The Clock is Ticking

The budget talks continue, and here are four graphs that sum up the situation. Kevin Drum says there is no sequestration deal to be made. Matt Miller says the sequestration isoverhyped. Alex Seitz-Wald believes you should be afraid. Deborah Solomon says that a new proposal from Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles “shows how Washington’s affinity for small deals that tackle the deficit incrementally are deepening the nation’s fiscal hole.” Michelle Benjamin says that Congress should employ basic small-business principlesto help balance the budget. Officials at the Federal Reservedisagree on how to increase employment.

Paul Anderson has a few tips for entrepreneurs looking toimprove adoption of customer-management software, including: “Before you migrate your old database to the customer-management software, scrub it to remove outdated, wrong, incomplete and duplicate information.” Anna Farmery explains why brands need to be imperfectly perfect. Patrick Coffee believes that the recent Carnival cruise disaster is also a public relations opportunity. This is how to start meaningfulword-of-mouth conversations by giving stuff away. Adrienne Erin shares a few little-known ways to cook up great content. Wendy Weiss has five tips for selling in tough times. Pete Leibman explains why looks matter. Walker Smith explainswhy people buy. Ivanka Trump introduces a new fragrance. A dog changes expressions quickly.

As some businesses criticize the costs of the Affordable Care Act, the federal government announces that it will run 26 health care exchanges. Kent Hoover reports that small businesses will get more (and pay more) for essential health benefits. Projected Medicare spending has fallen by $500 billion. The penny is considered the most wasteful thing the government does, but a digital coin turns four and approaches a $30 value. The cash-short United States Postal Service will introduce a clothing line. Lamar Whitman takes a look at what to expect from the Startup 3.0 bill moving through Congress. This is what you need to know about the Marketplace Fairness Act. State motor vehicle workers in New Jersey call the policeon a man who insisted on wearing a pasta strainer on his head during the taking of his driver’s license photo. A federal watchdog office reportedly saves small businesses $2.4 billion in regulatory costs. Chris Peden explains which version of Schedule C to use to file your taxes, and an Internal Revenue Service workshop provides tax-time help for small businesses.

Mark Suster explains why the “Harlem shake” is the beginning of an important new video trend: “Participation. We are the media. We want to be in it. Create it. Take part in it. Have a say, a vote. Think ‘American Idol’ voting, where the audience gets to feel like they’re participating. And where they’re willing to pay by dialing a paid number to feel like they’re, well, participating.”

Chris Heivly, writing about nondisclosure agreements, explains why he won’t sign your N.D.A.: “I am in the business of backing great teams working on great ideas. Inherent in this new relationship is trust. I am not going to steal your idea. I don’t have time to build a company — I invest in companies. I am not in the business of pitching your idea to others to build. And most important, if I did this just once, I would be labeled, and my deal flow would disappear.”

Christopher Mims explains how robots are eating the lastof America’s — and the world’s — traditional manufacturing jobs: “Not everyone is suffering. Skilled workers, for example, are earning more than ever. So are the very rich, those who own the capital that can be put to work in the world’s increasingly person-free farms, mines and factories. But those who used to make middle-class wages are increasingly slipping into lower-paying, service-sector jobs. That’s led to what M.I.T. economist David Autor calls an ‘hourglass economy,’ with more workers at both the top and (mostly) the bottom of the income spectrum.”

This Week’s Question: Do you think it’s evil to recline in an airline seat?

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.